Page 1 of 13 >>Skinner: This is only part of the 60,000 piece arsenal that anglers all over the state of Georgia use to pursue black bass. Did you know there are six different species of black bass in Georgia? Most of us are familiar with the largemouth bass, but there s also the spotted bass, the smallmouth bass, the coosa or the red-eyed bass, the shoal bass, and the Suwannee bass. Today, on Georgia Outdoors I m going to try and catch all 6 species of black bass in Georgia for the first ever Bass Grand Slam. Hey, how re you doing today? Well, I m in a bit of a hurry because I ve got to catch all six species of bass in Georgia in one day and I don t know if I m going to make it. Well I ve got all my gear, I think I m all set, 1 st stop Paradise Public Fishing area in south Georgia. Our friend Bert Deener says this is a sweet spot for Large Mouth, our first bass of the day. And I d better get going if we re going to catch all six species! >>Skinner: I m a little cautious to say that that this is- that we ve got a good chance cause I d never want to say that with any species of bass or fish period, but you ve said that they ve been moving pretty good and we stand a pretty good chance here. >>Bert: Sure do. We ve had four or five days of warm weather so they re starting to move up, thinking about the spring ritual. >>Skinner: Well, let s see if we can get one of those five knocked out. What do you say? >>Bert: Sounds good. There you go. Big bait, big fish. There he is. >>Skinner: Oh, goodness. There it is. >>Bert: Oh. He was out from the cover a little bit. >>Skinner: That s not a bad- look at that color. Good job! >>Bert: Pretty fish.
Page 2 of 13 >>Skinner: Good job! >>Bert: About a pound and a half. >>Skinner: Well, that counts for your part of the grand slam. That s a good job. >>Bert: See ya. I ll bet you re getting ready to get a bite Michael. >>Skinner: Yeah. Ho! There he is. >>Bert: There you go. >>Skinner: Right close to the boat to. >>Bert: Good deal. >>Skinner: That s amazing. That s funny. I turned to that trick worm cause I didn t feel good about that one that I started with. This is a nice, this is a nice lure. Well, that s a decent fish. >>Bert: Yeah, that s a little bit bigger- >>Skinner: But, I ve got to get him on board so it counts. >>Bert: There you go. >>Skinner: Yes. >>Bert: Pound and a half. Largemouth bass. >>Skinner: Yeah. There we go. We re on our way. Largemouth- part of the Grand Slam of bass in Georgia. OK, Bert. >>Bert: Good deal. >>Skinner: You re a fisheries biologist. We re looking fro six species of bass in Georgia. How are we going to tell these fish apart? >>Bert: This one s a largemouth and it got its name because of >>Skinner: Having a large mouth. >>Bert: Absolutely. Um, you can tell its mouth extends, the jawbone right here extends past the back of the eye. That s one of the characteristics of a largemouth. You can see it does have a very large mouth compared to the body size. They can actually eat prey half their body length depending on what kind of prey it is. So, they re well designed predators. This is typical markings for a largemouth. It has the dark line down the length of the body. You ll see smallmouth, shoal bass, some of the others have bands, but largemouth
Page 3 of 13 doesn t really have that as much. Some of them in reservoirs I ve seen do have little bands but, nothing like the smallmouth or shoal bass. >>Skinner: Well, let s let this guy growup. That s great information. Thanks a lot Bert. >>Bert: No problem. Good luck fishing for the other species. >>Skinner: We ll be hooking up with Bert again at the end of the day. He s promised to help us try and catch a Suwannee bass. Right now I m headed up to north Georgia to the East Fork Little River to try and catch a coosa bass, but first I ve got a bit of a drive ahead of me. >>Skinner: Well, this is where Kevin s supposed meet me. Kevin is a fisheries biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and he s been up here scouting the area to help us increase our chances of catching a coosa bass. And there he is now. Fantastic. Hey Kevin. >>Kevin: Hey Michael. >>Skinner: How are ya? >>Kevin: Pretty good. How are you doing? >>Skinner: Good. >>Kevin: Good to see you. >>Skinner: Bit of a hurry trying to get this done so >>Kevin: OK. >>Skinner: Got your gear and let s get to it. >>Kevin: Alright. Sound good. >>Skinner: This looks like a pretty good pool underneath this bridge here, Kevin. >>Kevin: It does. It s got this ripple right at the base of the bridge and that s what they like are these little ripples. >>Skinner: And this is the East Fork of the Little River. >>Kevin: Yup. This is the East Fork of Little River. We re up on Lookout Mountain.
Page 4 of 13 >>Skinner: Well, let s see if we can get a hold of one here. >>Kevin: Wait a minute! >>Skinner: Oh, man. >>Kevin: Got one right here. >>Skinner: Well, there you go. The DNR guy is out-fishing me already and you did land him so it counts. Is that what we re looking for? >>Kevin: Yup, that s a redeye bass. >>Skinner: Wow. >>Kevin: A redeye bass. Coosa bass- sort of interchangeably people call them. >>Skinner: Oh. Pretty fish. >>Kevin: They are pretty. This is about an average size one too. They are rarely or at least in small streams like this, they ll get a little bit larger than this, but this is about an average. >>Skinner: Well, I wonder if he s got any other brothers and sisters in this pool. >>Kevin: I don t know. He probably does. There s usually more than one. >>Skinner: Let s see if we can catch another one. I need one. >>Kevin: I need one. >>Skinner: Any other places up in, up in this area for, for coosa red-eye? >>Kevin: Just about any small stream like this is- will have them. You know, just looking at the trout stream map is a good way to find coosa streams. I mean they sort of inhabit the same type areas here in northwest Georgia. So, any small stream is, is a good choice. >>Skinner: Are they fairly aggressive fish? >>Kevin: Yeah, they re real aggressive. They- yup, they hit a lure and miss it, you can usually throw it right back to them and they ll, they ll hit is again. They re just super aggressive little fish. >>Skinner: Oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh she s, oh man, she s hung up! Oh, don t jump off it! Of course I m not even sure it s the fish we need, but. >>Kevin: Yeah, I was going to see if that s
Page 5 of 13 the one we re looking for. Could be either one. >>Skinner: Oh, man! She s hung up on there. >>Kevin: They can find any stick to get behind just like that one did. >>Skinner: I hope she s hooked well. Oh, there she goes. There she goes. Oh! Here we go. This what we re looking for? >>Kevin: Yeah, that s a red-eye bass. >>Skinner: Wow. >>Kevin: Coosa bass. >>Skinner: Look at that. What a beautiful fish. >>Kevin: You can see the brick red on the fins with a little bit of white edging, the olive brown on top, turquoise on bottom. They are really pretty. >>Skinner: That counts as our Grad Slam. >>Kevin: That counts as the Grand Slam. That s one of them. >>Skinner: So, I m going to let this one go. >>Kevin: OK. >>Skinner: And I ve got to get out of here. >>Kevin: OK. >>Skinner: Thanks for helping us with coosa. >>Kevin: You re welcome. Come back some time. >>Skinner: See ya next time. >>Kevin: OK. >>Skinner: Catching those coosa was a lot of fun. Right now, I m headed over to Lookout Creek. I don t have nearly as far to drive. I m going to meet Jimmy Jacobs. He s an outdoors writer and an avid fisherman. He s going to help us catch the smallmouth bass.. >>Skinner: Hey, Jimmy. >>Jacobs: Hey, Michael. >>Skinner: I made it. Looks like I m going to be doing a lot of driving today. And we re after smallmouth right now. Why here?
Page 6 of 13 >>Jacobs: OK, we re on Lookout Creek up here in northwest Georgia. We re in the Tennessee River Valley drainage. We re up here because the water s colder. Smallmouths need that and for whatever reason the only place they show up in Georgia is in the drainage of the Tennessee River so, that s what brought us up here. >>Skinner: Well, let s get started. Can you give me a hand with my boat? >>Jacobs: Great. Be glad to. >>Skinner: This is, this is a really pretty creek, Jimmy. I ve never, never been up here. I ve spent a lot of time in northwest Georgia, but never on Lookout Creek. Could you tell me about the Tennessee River drainage and smallmouth fishing in Georgia. >>Jacobs: They are only in the Tennessee River drainage up here and really you re talking Dade County, over the mountains up in this corner and what you re looking for up here is smallmouths are much like a red-eye or a shoal bass. They are creek and river type fish. They feed on small minnows, crayfish, hellgrammites, that kind of thing. The only difference between a smallmouth and those other species though is it does well in lakes as well, the big reservoirs. Well, when you re floating a stream like this, you know, some of the best places are the holes right here in the shoals. So, you want to just stop your canoe, get out, fish those spots, and concentrate on the fish. If you just stay in the boat and keep floating, you re going to float right over the best spots to fish. >>Skinner: Well, let s see if we can put one in the boat. >>Jacobs: OK. >>Skinner: Or near the boat. >>Jacobs: OK, sounds good to me as soon as I get out of the grass bed. >>Skinner: Did you see that fish rise right there?
Page 7 of 13 >>Jacobs: No. >>Skinner: Right in front of you. >>Jacobs: Oh, really? He could see us coming. >>Skinner: This is a really pretty stretch of creek here. It s almost more like a river, but- >>Jacobs: Yup. >>Skinner: Oh! Well, is he on? There s something on. Oh, that s a tiny one. I don t know. What do you- a brim or? >>Jacobs: I believe you got a spotted bass there. >>Skinner: Oh really! A spot! Oh my goodness! That might, that might save a trip in the Grand Slam because we were going to, we were going to fish with Kevin for spots so. Maybe we ll save- oh, boy that is a tiny one, isn t it? Well, I can t believe that he swallowed that lure like that. If I can get that out I ll just let him go but, this is a spotted bass. It s a small one, but it does count. So, I m going to let this one go. I think this is our takeout right here, Jimmy. >>Jacobs: I believe it is. >>Skinner: Could I ask a favor? >>Jacobs: Sure. >>Skinner: Would you mind helping me with shoal bass? >>Jacobs: I ll be glad to. >>Skinner: OK. >>Jacobs: As a matter of fact I ll head on down to the Flint and start scouting them right now. >>Skinner: Fantastic. >>Jacobs: OK. >>Skinner: Can t say we didn t try. >>Jacobs: Oh, we gave it the effort. >>Skinner: You know, I ve heard it say that s why they call it fishing and not catching. >>Jacobs: That s a fact. >>Skinner: I hate to say that, but. Can you pull me up there a little bit?
Page 8 of 13 >>Jacobs: Sure. >>Skinner: Little deep here. And I have got to get going. I got a bunch more fish to catch. >>Skinner: Kevin, hey, it s Michael. Well, guess what. We didn t catch any smallmouths on Lookout Creek. Yeah, I know, but we caught a spot, so in talking with my producer she said that counts in the Grand Slam. So, I tell you what, instead of going after more spots why don t you meet me at the creek on my property. You know where that is, right? And we ll see what we can catch there. OK? Great. I ll see you there in a few minutes. >>Skinner: Hey. >>Kevin: Hi, Michael. Nice to see you. I saw you guys waiting, just wanted to make sure, saw this sign, and wanted to make sure I was in the right place. >>Skinner: This is it. This is my property. >>Kevin: OK. >>Skinner: Let s give it a shot. >>Kevin: Sounds good. >>Skinner: I think we can go in right here. Tell you what, why don t you go first, too. >>Kevin: OK. >>Skinner: I don t know what we could find here. Largemouth, I know, are in here. I know there s, I know there s brim in here. >>Kevin: Worth a try. It s a pretty creek, that s for sure. >>Skinner: Oh, oh, oh! >>Kevin: That s a good- >>Skinner: Oh, my goodness! Look at that! Oh, wow! >>Kevin: Oh, that s a brown, that s a smallmouth. There we go. >>Skinner: What? >>Kevin: That s a smallmouth. >>Skinner: No way! >>Kevin: Yes, it is. That s a nice smallmouth.
Page 9 of 13 >>Skinner: Oh, my goodness! We re going to get, we re going to get a smallie. >>Kevin: That s a nice smallmouth. >>Skinner: Holy smokes! >>Kevin: Good fish. >>Skinner: Oh, my goodness. Wow! >>Kevin: Nice smallmouth. There you go. >>Skinner: Woo hoo! >>Kevin: Smallmouth bass, that s it! That s what you wanted. >>Skinner: Alright! >>Kevin: Good job. >>Skinner: Oh, man. Look at that. That is a nice fish. >>Kevin: That s a nice fish. >>Skinner: He s got- he s been injured. >>Kevin: Yup. Someone tried to eat him at one point and time. >>Skinner: Look at that. Oh, my goodness. Well, why don t you talk about the characteristics of a smallmouth, Kevin. >>Kevin: Well, one of the first characteristics, from the name small mouth bass, as you can see, you know, the mouth is pretty small compared to a large mouth. When you close the mouth, the back of the jaw here doesn t protrude back past the of the eye. It s in front of the eye. Then of course you ve got the, you know, olive brown coloration. A lot of people call these brown bass or bronze backs. Another character you can use is the- if you look at the dip between the spinny dorsal and the soft dorsal, you ll notice it doesn t quite go all the way down to the body notch there at all and so that s how you identify one and that s a, that s a nice Georgia smallmouth right there. >>Female Narrator: Catching a state record fish in Georgia can be quite a thrill. These are the records you ll have to beat. The Georgia state record for the largemouth is 22 lbs 4 oz. The state record
Page 10 of 13 for the red eye bass is 3 lbs 5 oz. The suwannee bass state record was caught on the Ochlockonee River and is 3 lbs 8 oz. The smallmouth state record is 7 lbs 2 oz. caught on Lake Chatuge. The spotted bass state record was caught on Lake Lanier and is 8 lbs 5 oz. And the shoal bass state record weighs in at 8 lbs 3 oz caught on the Flint River. >>Skinner: Four down, two more to go. Right now I m headed south to the Flint River to meet Jimmy to try and catch a shoal bass. >>Skinner: Hey. >>Jimmy: Hey, Michael. >>Skinner: In a bit of a hurry. I ll meet you down there. >>Jimmy: OK, great. >>Skinner: Well, this is nice looking water. How do you wan to work this? >>Jimmy: K, you can see we ve got three little islands out here and there s a lot of current running between them. These channels have got some deeper holes in them. What you want to do is cast your lure out sort of pointing it down stream. Let it run through that deeper water where that current is. These shoal bass are going to be where the water s moving. If it s still you re probably not going to find them. So, we can work this side of the islands and the other side. >>Skinner: OK. Ho! Jimmy, there he is! >>Jimmy: Alright! >>Skinner: Well, this only counts in the Grand Slam if I land him. >>Jimmy: That s true. >>Skinner: I have to have him in my hand. Not a big one, but he counts anyway. Come here, come here, come here. Woo hoo! >>Jimmy: He counts. >>Skinner: There is a shoal bass. Not a big one, but for the Grand Slam it counts. I m
Page 11 of 13 going to let this little fellow go. There he goes. Hey, Jimmy. Thanks a lot. I ve got to go. >>Jimmy: OK. Well, I m going to stay and catch one myself. >>Skinner: Well, we ve almost come full circle. Right now I m headed back down to south Georgia to meet Bert and try and catch the most elusive member of the Grand Slam, the suwannee bass. This should be the hardest one of all of them to catch. So, I m all filled up and I ve got to go. >>Skinner: Hey, Bert. >>Bert: Hey, Michael. >>Skinner: How are ya? >>Bert: Pretty good. >>Skinner: Guess what. We ve got five of the six. >>Bert: Good deal. >>Skinner: So, there s no pressure on to catch the last one, OK? >>Bert: Yeah, yeah. >>Skinner: I m going to grab my gear. >>Bert: OK. >>Skinner: If you re ready to go? So, this is the Withlacoochee. I ve never been on this river before. Tell me a little bit about this river, Bert. >>Bert: Alright. As you can, as you can see it s a pretty small river. It s, it has some black water drainage from up around the Tifton area and it s a tributary to the Suwannee River. The Alapaha and the Withlacoochee both flow into the Suwannee and as far as the suwannee bass go, those are the only rivers that, that the suwannee bass lives in: the Ochlocknee River and then the Suwannee with its different drainages. >>Skinner: OK, I was curious cause we re fishing for suwannee, I figure we d be on the Suwannee.
Page 12 of 13 >>Bert: Right. Well, we re only about a hundred miles from it probably. >>Skinner: And what s the state record for the, the suwannee? >>Bert: The state record is 3 lbs 9 oz and it s, it s rare to catch a suwannee bass, but when you do a lot of times they re around twelve to fourteen inches, around a pound. >>Skinner: Well, why don t we see if we can scare up a state record today? >>Bert: Sounds good to me. >>Skinner: Be a great way, be a great way to end the Grand Slam. >>Bert: Absolutely. >>Skinner: Whoa! There s- oh, it s a dinker, it s probably just another redbreast. >>Bert: Get him, Michael. >>Skinner: Well, stay on. >>Bert: That s a bass at least. >>Skinner: No, that s not a sunfish. >>Bert: Hey, it s a bass! >>Skinner: Oh, oh, oh, oh! Stay on! It looks like a largemouth, though. Darn it! >>Bert: I don t know, he s got the color. >>Skinner: Come here, come here. Come on! Got to land him. Oh, man! >>Bert: Oh, what a trophy! >>Skinner: Look at that! >>Bert: Let s check him out. >>Skinner: Is that a largemouth? >>Bert: I, he s got a coloration similarnope, that s a suwannee. >>Skinner: That s a suwannee? >>Bert: There he is. Congratulations, Michael! >>Skinner: We ve got the, we got the Grand Slam! >>Bert: Good deal. >>Skinner: Ow! >>Bert: Not, not really a trophy, but boy, it is today. >>Skinner: No. Well, the spots that we caught were only about this size too but, I figured if I ve got to catch six species on one day it doesn t matter how big they are.
Page 13 of 13 That s a suwannee. >>Bert: That s a suwannee bass. >>Skinner: Look at that. >>Bert: See how fat he is? And he s got kind of a golden-bronze color. >>Skinner: Right. >>Bert: This one s a little greener than a lot of them I ve caught and this one doesn t really have the distinctive red eye as much which a lot of the bigger ones have that, but that s sure enough a suwannee bass. >>Skinner: I can t believe it. We did it. >>Bert: Good deal. >>Skinner: This was, we said it was going to be a little tough. >>Bert: Worth the trip south. >>Skinner: Alrighty, well, I m going to let this guy go. >>Bert: Alright. Congratulations. Six of six. >>Skinner: It has been a lot of fun completing the first ever Grand Slam of bass in Georgia. We couldn t have done it without the help of a lot of people and oh, wait a second! I ve got another one on! Well, it looks like I m not quite done fishing. I don t recognize this guy. Could it be the rare plastic mouth bass? I think it is. Oh, it is! Oh, it is! Good luck catching one of these. Keep on fishing. We ll see you next time on Georgia Outdoors. >>Male Narrator: Whether you re an outdoor enthusiast or just an unsure adventurer >>Skinner: There s two pieces of gear that you don t want to forget. >>Male Narrator: Gear up every week for new and exciting experiences next time on Georgia Outdoors.